Jailed pro-independence leaders to appear in court on Tuesday

Jailed MP and candidate for Catalan president, Jordi Sànchez, is to appear before the Supreme Court next Tuesday to hear the judge’s ruling on his appeal for release. Also appearing will be deposed Catalan interior minister, Joaquim Forn. Both men have been held in custody since October pending their trials over their role in the bid for Catalonia’s independence. 

Hearing not to discuss permission for parliament debate 

Sànchez and Forn will appear separately, with Forn to appear first at 10am. The former interior minister appealed the court’s ruling denying his release on February 2. Sánchez’s hearing will take place half an hour later, with the court’s decision on his appeal from February 6, not the appeal he made on March 6, when he was denied permission to attend parliament on Monday to be sworn in as president.

Five months in prison

Sànchez has been incarcerated awaiting trial since October 16, 2017, along with Jordi Cuixart, both leaders of two major pro-independence organizations in the run-up to the referendum. In fact, the entities they headed have called demonstrations for Friday, the day marking five months since their incarceration. Joaquim Forn was held in custody on November 2, 2017, and both men have been denied release despite rejecting any future intentions to bring about unilateral independence. The deposed Catalan vice president, Oriol Junqueras, has also been in pre-trial prison since November 2.